Attributing arms

 
Mark Olivo
 
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Mark Olivo
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02 March 2007 14:49
 

Hi all,

We recently lost my grandmother, to whom I was very close.  I have been thinking about it a lot, and I think that I would like to attribute arms to her.  Not arms that would be transmitted to anyone else, just something of a tribute.

Has anyone out there done something similar, that you could offer general advice on this?  I’m struggling with ideas of how or what exactly I should use to honor her, while at the same time suggesting a continuum with my arms.

 
Linusboarder
 
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Linusboarder
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02 March 2007 16:48
 

I am sorry for your loss Mark. The death of a loved one is one of the most difficult things people have to go through.

I think attributing arms to your grandmother is a fantastick tribute to a person whom you are close to. Since I do not know anything about your grandmother, I only have one suggestion… I would incorporate the Owl that’s in your crest into the arms. It would have 2 meanings, it would be a connection to you, and owl very often represents "wise" and I don’t know of any Grandmothers who aren’t wise.

 
Donnchadh
 
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Donnchadh
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02 March 2007 16:56
 

*edited by member*

 
Jim Pelletier
 
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Jim Pelletier
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02 March 2007 20:03
 

Mark -

I’m also sorry to hear of your loss.  In answer to your question, I did exactly the same thing for my two nephews, born four months early.  Denny and many other people here helped me with the design.  The final design was much better after their assistance than I could have come up with on my own. That thread is here.

 

In my own experience, the fact that the boys were twins and the heritage of both sides of their family is what drove the design.  Where your grandmother had a much longer and much more full life, there would be many more sources for you to draw from.  Perhaps one or two things that were really dear to her?

 

Jim Pelletier

 
Stephen R. Hickman
 
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Stephen R. Hickman
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02 March 2007 21:29
 

My condolances, Mark.  The arms which you attribute to her, I think, should have one coronet (to represent you), and one of her favorite flower (to represent herself).  I’m sure that you have a few ideas of what should be on her shield, but these are just a couple of suggestions.  Again, my condolances.

 
Mark Olivo
 
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Mark Olivo
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03 March 2007 01:57
 

Thanks for all the kind words guys.  She did indeed live a full life, and now I know she is in a much better place.  Her last few years were a struggle.

Her name was Lupe Micah Olivo-Gonzalez, and she lived to be 87.  She was the first in my (paternal) ancestry to be born in this country, her mother having come here presumably in flight from the Mexican Revolution.  There are many stories about how or why she left Mexico that I scarcely know what to believe and I am left to come up with theories.

The two most important things in her life were the church and her family.  In particular her local church, Our Lady of Guadalupe.  Perhaps something like a statement of piety would be appropriate (‘Ave Maria’ et al.), unless there is something recognized as symbolizing the Virgin of Guadalupe that anyone may be aware of.  Additionally, there is the tie-in to her given name.

As far as family, I am at a loss.  She was one of five children, and one “adopted” child who was actually found abandoned in a railroad car as a baby.

Unlike me, she was entirely Mexican and did not have one foot in each world as I do.  So anything inherently Iberian would be good.

Any suggestions?

 
Donnchadh
 
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Donnchadh
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03 March 2007 03:22
 

*edited by member*

 
Mark Olivo
 
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Mark Olivo
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03 March 2007 04:14
 

Donnchadh wrote:

It would help if we knew what sort of colors you like…


Actually I believe her favorite color was red.  Her favorite dress was red, and she had this affinity for little red statuettes and trinkets of various things.

 

Wow, this is a much more difficult process than it looks like from the outside.  I really need to think about this long and hard.

 
Donnchadh
 
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Donnchadh
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03 March 2007 12:19
 

*edited by member*

 
PBlanton
 
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PBlanton
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03 March 2007 20:10
 

Mark,

I’m sorry to hear about your loss, but I like the idea of an armorial tribute. From what you have told us so far I started imagining:

 

Gules semy of estoiles Argent, in pale a sun in splendor crowned Or and a crescent crowned Or.

 

Perhaps using your owl in the crest clutching or charged with a rose?

 

Just what immediately came to mind.

 

You and your family will be in my prayers.

 

Take care,

 
 
Trent
 
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Trent
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03 March 2007 20:41
 

Sorry for your loss, Mark.

 
Mark Olivo
 
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Mark Olivo
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06 March 2007 09:40
 

I’ve been giving this some thought, and here’s what I think I think so far,

(comments welcome).

I like the idea of "Gules semy of estoiles Argent".

But I also think that it would be very nice to have a celestial crown over an olive tree eradicated (canting) which has upon it a cross fleury, so perhaps we could impale these two images somehow.

I also think that I would like to put words on the shield in the Spanish fashion, specifically "Auspice Maria" assuming that is proper Latin, or perhaps put the words on a burdure.

As for a crest, I have not even thought about it yet but perhaps we could move something I mentioned above to the crest to mae the shield less ‘busy’. or go with no crest at all.

This is harder than i though it would be.  Thoughts?

 
Michael F. McCartney
 
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Michael F. McCartney
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08 March 2007 21:41
 

I’ve skimmed through the thread rather quickly—sorry if I’ve missed anything relevant to this point—but if possible you might want to involve any of your cousins bearing your grandmothers surname, since they would presumably be eligible to bear the newly designed arms as their own pronomial arms.  One of the functions or roles of arms is to identify a family and promote family unity, which would IMO be well served by including them in the design process.  Assuming of course that you can identify them, and that they take some level of interest n the project.

 
Mark Olivo
 
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Mark Olivo
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09 March 2007 01:37
 

Michael F. McCartney wrote:

I’ve skimmed through the thread rather quickly—sorry if I’ve missed anything relevant to this point—but if possible you might want to involve any of your cousins bearing your grandmothers surname, since they would presumably be eligible to bear the newly designed arms as their own pronomial arms.  One of the functions or roles of arms is to identify a family and promote family unity, which would IMO be well served by including them in the design process.  Assuming of course that you can identify them, and that they take some level of interest n the project.


No cousins with the surname exist.

In fact she was officially an Olivo like me (as was my great-grandmother despite multiple marriages) until she was about 60 years old when she married my step-grandfather Marselino.  There is no hard and fast rule about assuming your husband’s surname is Hispanic culture.

Her only children are my father, and his sister who is now an Acosta.  Really the only people I would need to talk to about this are myself and my father.

But really, this is just my own way of remembering her.  If I had an interest in poetry, I suppose I’d write a few line of verse… know what I mean?

 
Michael F. McCartney
 
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Michael F. McCartney
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09 March 2007 16:30
 

Ah—thanks for the clarification.  Then assuming that you mean your own arms to apply to your own line of Los Olivo, simply depicting your own arms on a losenge or oval, maybe (or maybe not) with a bordure or some other distinguishing mark maybe a bordure Or charged with crowns Purpure? ...

...and/or maybe (or maybe not) impaling them with arms (newly devised if need be) for your step-grandfather Marcelino.  The latter would honor both grandparents, and could provide a vehicle for a design project among any Marcelino cousins.

 

In any case, the thought is the important part, and that is clearly already present.  Sorry for your loss.

 
Mark Olivo
 
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Mark Olivo
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10 March 2007 01:34
 

You bring up some valid points, actually now that I really think about it.  Since it was never my intention to do anything that would cause me to alter my own arms, or create anything for "Mars" as we called him, maybe it’s best if I think creating a badge instead of arms.

I’m afriad I just did not know enough about Mars to be able to informedly attribute anything to him.  I will call up my cousins back in Nebraska and speak to them about this.

Thanks for your input on this, btw.